In recent years, grain elevators and feed mills have necessarily become increasingly efficient in their operations. Many customers of elevators and feed mills now operate on a “just-in-time” basis. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly important to minimize the duration of any elevator or mill downtime.
In the past, grain handling equipment manufacturers have sold adjustable spout ends which are placed at a lower end of an upwardly angled spout. The spout ends are typically disposed over the center of a grain bin, and the spout ends typically direct material into the center of the bin in a substantially vertical column. One example of such an adjustable spout end is the “Original Style” Adjustable Spout End. Another is the Premium Adjustable Spout End (U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,852), both of which are made by Nolin Milling, Inc. of Dickens, Iowa.
While these adjustable spout ends have enjoyed much success and have been used extensively in the past, they do have some drawbacks.
First of all, the effectiveness and efficiency of the Original Style adjustable spout ends generally operate optimally at a maximum spout flow rate. The Premium Adjustable spout end was better able to handle low and variable flow rates. Both of these prior art design suffered from getting plugged up when corn stalks, wheat straw, bean pods and other oversize material was present in the material being handled. Additionally, both styles often would require considerable effort and time be spent in replacing the adjustable spout end when wear-caused damage necessitated a spout end change.
Consequently, there exists a need for improved methods and systems for providing, maintaining, repairing and replacing equipment for delivering and decelerating dry bulk material in an efficient manner.